Product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal. PLM integrates people, data, processes and business systems and provides a product information backbone for companies and their extended enterprise.
A bill of materials (BOM) includes, for example, lists of raw materials, sub-assemblies, intermediate assemblies, sub-components, components, parts, and quantities of each needed to manufacture an end item. A BOM may be used for communication between manufacturing partners (e.g., main manufacturing-supplier), or confined to a single manufacturing plant. A BOM can, for example, define products as they are designed (e.g., engineering bill of materials), as they are ordered (e.g., sales bill of materials), as they are built (e.g., manufacturing bill of materials), or as they are maintained (service bill of materials). The different types of BOMs depend on the business need and use for which they are intended.